[Movie Review] One Piece Film Gold

The
movie is set in One Piece Universe
right after the Dressrosa Arc whereby
Luffy has already defeated Donquixote Dorflamingo. Straw Hat Crew
visits the world largest entertainment city Gran Tesoro which was created by Gild Tesoro.

It is
a home of the world's greatest entertainment casino city where well-known
pirates, Marines, and millionaires throughout the world gather in an
"absolute sanctuary" that even the World Government can't touch.

Straw
Hat Crews are enjoying themselves until they are tricked into a bigger
conspiracy by Gild Tesoro as part of
his “entertainment”. The crews are trapped in a great threat when Zorro is captured and about to be
executed by Gild Tesoro.

Apart
from that, Straw Hat Crews also
discovered the other secrets of Gran
Tesoro about those “losers” who are entrapped and suffered in the city.

Will
Luffy and the straw hat crews be
able to save Zorro?

What
is the secret behind the gold and glittering city?

Let’s
Coup de Burst to the nearest GSC cinema
this 8th September 2016 and
find it out!

Review:

The Straw Hat Crews In Action On Big Screen!

It’s always a pleasure
to see our beloved Straw Hat Crews
in action on big screen. The movie kicked off by showing the crews visiting the
Gran Tesoro and was assaulted by
pirates who have just lost all their money in the casino. Just like usual, the
crews are introduced as each of them displays their strength in fending off the
enemies. It’s great to see them with their latest bounty price too (especially
the one “God Usopp” with 200 million
berry).

Simple Plot of Exploration with some small twists!

The plot of the movie is
kind of straight-forward with a small twist in the end. It is the storyline
everyone would expect from a One Piece movie.
First, started off with an exploration of the world of Gran Tesoro, whereby we could see the Straw Hat Crews having fun in the different games in casino. Then,
it revolved around Straw Hat Crews against
the villain Gild Tesoro’s mischievous
plot. There are some twists in the movie but most of it are within expectation.
It is something familiar for the One Piece fans yet something which the fans
would enjoy.

Spy Infiltration Style Action?

Apart from usual fight-it-through
scenes, this time around, the One Piece film shows us how the crews could use
their abilities to deliver some James
Bond, Mission Impossible or Metal
Gear Solid style of infiltration. It is actually quite a good way to
demonstrate the use of their skills in a different way.

Spectacular Action Sequences!

Although the first half
of the show doesn’t involve too many fights, the action sequence near the end of
the show is quite nice. Here, we get to see how the crews use their skills in
defeating the villains with distinctive powers. Some even demonstrated the
abilities which are never seen in the manga or anime before. Of course, since
this is a story after the Dressrosa Arc,
you get to see Luffy in his Gear Fourth too!

Smooth Graphical Animation! Great Voice Acting!

The graphical animation
for this movie is quite remarkable. Some of the scenes involve CGI enhanced 2D
graphics. This enhancement is great and appreciable in an anime movie like
this.

Besides, the voice
acting performance for the film is good. It featured the original seiyuu casts
for the main characters. The new add-ins for the film has amazing voice acting
too.

The Cameo Appearances!

Other than the Straw Hat Crews, the movie also shows
us some cameo appearance of a few characters from the series itself. However,
most of these cameo appearances are sidelined and doesn’t even have an
interaction with the straw hat crews themselves, their appearances are no doubt
a mere fans servicing attempt.

Decent OST and Background Music!

The music for the film
is quite decent and fit well with the theme of the film. The starting song of “Gold & Jive by Silver Ocean” has
the carnival like mood which is quite appropriate to the movie while most other
songs sounded casino-like. “DokiDoki Spy
Time” gives a vibe of classical detective mood for the movie scene.

Personally, I love the
song “Daigyakuten” the most because
of its upbeat tone as well as the Gear
Fourth moment!

Downside: Overpowered But Underdeveloped Main Villain!

The downside for the
movie would be the main villain. The main villain this time is different from
other villains in the previous One Piece movies or even other anime movies
whereby most of the time, the movie villain is actually quite weak. In this
case, the main villain Gild Tesoro and
his gang has some coolest Devil Fruit ability.
Gild Tesoro himself is really
overpowered and I can understand why the straw hat crews would need to struggle
a little to beat him up.

However, what makes the
main villain a setback in the film is its underdeveloped backstory. Of course,
there are flashbacks signifying some of his background origin. But the patches
of scenes won’t help you to feel for him or even understand his true motive in
the film except just to play the role as the main villain here. What made it
worse is the repetitive lame slogan of “It’s an ENTERTAINMENT!”

Downside: Inconsistent Pacing! Abrupt Ending!Another downside for the
movie is the inconsistent pacing of the movie. There are moments in the movie
which really get the fans feel excited with but then to be abruptly slowed down
by some down-tempo conversation.

In addition, the abrupt
ending is also upsetting because it is so sudden without any time for the
audience to even process it.

What I like about the
movie:

The straw hat crews on
big screen

Action Packed

Smooth Animation

Decent OST

What I dislike about the
movie:

Sidelined cameo
appearance

Underdeveloped villain

Inconsistent Pacing
& Abrupt Ending

Verdict:

This movie deserves a 7.0/10.0!

“It’s great to see The
Straw Hat Crew In Action on Big Screen! A show which is highly recommended to
all One Piece Fans” –WLJack

Million
thanks to GSC Movies for inviting me
to the gala premiere of the movie. And million thanks to them for bringing the
movie to Malaysia.

The
movie will be available in selected GSC
Outlets from 8th
September 2016 onwards!

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About Jack Chan Wah LoongWLJack is an active event blogger since 2011 and has done over hundreds of events coverage in Malaysia. Apart from that, he is also a full-time fully registered Doctor Medical Officer.